


In Which Magnus Gets Really Angry and Alex Learns How to be in a Relationship

by Klokkenspel



Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Empousai, Myrmekes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-12 13:01:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18011384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Klokkenspel/pseuds/Klokkenspel
Summary: Magnus and Alex planned to take a little vacation in New York City from their daily einherjar duty of dying in ever more creative ways.They did not plan to end up in the middle of New Jersey fighting a various assortment of monsters from Greek legend.





	In Which Magnus Gets Really Angry and Alex Learns How to be in a Relationship

"So why did we pick New York City again?" Alex asked.

Magnus shrugged.

"Well, there's my cousin," he responded. Jack flew around them, randomly piercing hearts and chopping off heads.

"Oh, and it's like the most popular tourist destination ever."

Alex rolled his eyes and whipped out his garrote, quickly suffocating another snake. 

At least, Magnus thought it was a snake. It was scaly and green and slimy and spat poison.

And its length was at least twice his height.

Magnus busied himself by dodging projectile acid.

Once the last of the snakes were killed, Jack immediately turned back into a pendant. Unusually, he didn't say a word. Magnus felt the effects immediately, but managed not to collapsed onto the slimy grass.

"What kind of snakes are these?" Alex wondered, squashing a scaly body with his boot. Dark, viscous liquid poured out of the hole where the head had once been attached, eating away the grass around it. Alex grimaced and took a step back.

"Probably one of those Greek monsters Annabeth told me about," Magnus sighed. Here he was, hoping that this "vacation" would at least turn out to be peaceful, but nope. The two of them had been periodically attacked by monsters the moment they walked through the door and out onto the New Jersey countryside.

"Those damn Greeks," Alex muttered. "I'm gonna punch them one day for creating myths on such annoying creatures."

"I don't think that's how it works," Magnus interjected.

"Shut up, Beantown."

Magnus opened his mouth to protest, then took a closer look at Alex. He seemed...tired. His arms were slumped down as though a weight were tied to his hands, and his expression showed lines of sleepiness and exhaustion.

"What are you staring at?" Alex asked. Magnus shook his head and look around. The two were in the middle of New Jersey after stepping through a door Helgi had promised led to NYC. Now they were in the middle of a meadow, all alone, with the sun setting.

"Maybe we should find civilization," Magnus said. He noticed a long cut on Alex's arm and shuffled over to heal it.

" _Maybe_ we should," Alex huffed. " _Maybe_ we should check out those houses over there which _may_ or may not house  _people_."

"Er-let's go then." Magnus mumbled, suddenly feeling flustered. There was indeed a dotty collection of houses that could be seen a few hundred feet away. In his defence, Magnus had been a bit busy trying not to get burnt by acid to notice.

The two began walking in silence. At some point Alex shapshifted into a gray cat, then a vibrantly pink flamingo, and then, as they arrived at the small town, he changed back into himself and sat down on a bench.

"Are you alright?" Magnus asked.

"Fine. Absolutely fine," Alex replied, though he sounded a bit forced.

"We should find some sort of shelter," Magnus muttered. Alex smiled.

"We'll just asked someone to lend their shop or spare bedroom for the night."

"They'll agree to that?" Magnus asked dubiously.

"Sure. Money may not buy happiness itself, but it can buy nearly everything else." Alex pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket, Grant's face flashed at him in the dimming sunlight.

"You have that much money?" Magnus asked. He hadn't even thought to bring anything, which, now that he thought about it, was kind of stupid.

"Hotel Valhalla can't pay for everything directly, but all I had to do was have Helgi forward some paperwork and viola! A bundle of fifty dollar bills delivered via Ravenzon Prime the next morning. Quite convenient."

"Why didn't I know about this?" Magnus asked. "And Ravenzon Prime? That's an actual thing?"

Alex smirked. "Oh, Beantown, ravens deliver messages all the time. Of course they can deliver other stuff. It occured to everyone else but you apparently. And yes, Ravenzon Prime is a thing. Why not?"

 _Why not indeed_ , Magnus thought dryly.  _And of course I'm the last to know._

"Wait. What about payment?" Magnus frowned, having just thought of that.

"All part of the vacation deal. I mean, we did save the world, just saying," Alex shrugged. Magnus supposed that was fair. Not that he was being  _ungrateful_ or anything, but after stopping Ragnarok and recapturing Loki, one would think it merits some reward beyond signed bathrobes and powerpoints.

The two struck a deal with a farmer a after asking around a while later and hunkered down in a barn with sleeping bags that night.

"Do you hear something?" Alex suddenly asked just as Magnus was about to fall asleep in the cosy warmth of the wool-stuffed sleeping bag.

"Mhmm?" he yawned, only half-registering that Alex had said something.

Suddenly, Alex's golden garotte flashed across his vision, and a hissing awakened Magnus's sense enough that he perked his head up and picked out a dark shape the size of a small wolf.

It was no wolf, however, with a segmented body and spiked mandibles. Overall, it looked like a very, very large ant.

It charged at the two of them with Alex's garotte still wrapped around its neck. Alex jerked his arm and the large ant went flying into a stack of hay.

"What the fuck is that?" Magnus spluttered.

"A giantgantous antius," Alex replied. "Commonly found in northeastern United States. They prey on small mammals and large mammals, run up to 50 miles per hour, and SHOOT ACID!"

He scrambled out of the way just as a spray of poison melted the hay and sent a few stray drops in his direction. Alex ended up falling on top of Magnus, thus ensuring he was now very much awake.

"Is the rest of that true?" Magnus asked, shooting up and running to the other side of the barn. A cow mooed in protest at the interruption to its sleep.

 _Shut up, cow, you're not the getting attacked a giant ant_.

"Yes, I read _all_ about it on wikipedia... OF COURSE I'M MAKING IT UP!"

Alex diverted the charging ant away with a whip of his garotte again. 

Magnus shook the pendant on his neck furiously. Jack turned into a sword a few moments later.

"Okay Okay! I'm awake! What's so important you have to interrupt a sword's beauty sleep?" he yelled. Then he froze at the sight of the ant.

"Oh. That."

"Yeah, that," Magnus replied sarcastically while stifling a yawn. "Mind helping?"

"Haven't seen these in a long time." Jack flew over and whacked it on the head with his blade, driving it away from ALex so he could recover his breath. "Here's the thing about them. They have, like impenetrable armor on their backs."

"Then slice their belly!" Alex snapped. Jack seemed to sigh.

"Do I have to? I'll have myrmeke guts all over me, and these guys are nearly as bad as dragons."

"Jack!" Magnus and Alex snapped at the same time. Jack, grumbling, swooped under the ant (or mysomething, Magnus forgot), and thrusted upwards. It convulsed violently for a few seconds before going limp, a dark stain marching across the floor from where Jack had pierced it.

"Great! Maybe finally I can sleep now!" Alex marched over to his sleeping bag. Magnus was about to do the same when Jack interrupted.

"There's probably more of them."

Alex froze.

"More."

"Yep. These guys, man, they really like to swarm their opponents. I'm surprised we've only seen one so far. Let me tell you, back when Frey and I went on a trip to Athens, these were even more annoying than the Geminus-"

"Where did it come from?" Alex asked. "I-I should have considered this earlier. We didn't hear it approach until it was nearly on us, but the barn doors are all tightly locked and there are no cracks in the walls."

"They build underground burrows," Jack replied stiffly. "With a queen among them. Like real ants, except a lot bigger and more annoying to kill."

"So there's a hole in this barn that leads to a nest of these things."

Magnus really didn't want to to do this. First they wander around New Jersey for the entire day while getting attacked by monsters in all directions, and now-okay they were still getting attacked by a monster. But just as he was about to get some rest!

"Jack, you will guard while we sleep," Alex ordered, snuggling into his sleeping bag. Jack was about to protest when Magnus, to his own surprise, backed Alex up.

"Yes. You will. We both need sleep."

Jack shook himself to fling the guts off of him, and then laid himself against a beam.

"Fine..." He began singing some random 80s song in a terrible soprano voice, but at the moment Magnus was too tired to care. He crawled back into his sleeping bag and fell asleep a few seconds later.

* * *

The next morning, Magnus summoned Jack back into a pendant and slept for a few more hours while Alex kept watch.

Once they were both fully refreshed, Alex opened the barn doors and strolled out, with Magnus following. He breathed a sigh of relief when warm, comforting sunlight flooded him, reminding him that hey, the world hasn't ended yet.

"So...what do we do now?" Magnus asked.

"What we did yesterday. Start walking to NYC."

"We were just kinda wandering around yesterday," Magnus pointed out. "There's no wifi so we can't go on google maps."

"Then we'll get information from the locals here. Come on!"

It took them roughly an hour to find a map of the area and directions to a coastal New Jersey town where they could find additional information to get to New York City.

"So. We can do this a few ways," Alex began after they left the town behind. "We can just walk."

Magnus groaned.

"Stop complaining. Only I get to do that. We could steal a car."

"Can you drive?" Magnus asked.

"No."

"I can't either."

"Oh well." Alex stretched out his arms. "There's a third option for me. Flying there. The problem is your slow moving demigod legs."

"I rather like my legs," Magnus protested. 

"To bad they're not very useful here. Anyway, I don't feel like walking the entire way, so I'll just fly around. Don't worry, I probably won't abandon you."

Alex smirked and morphed into some sort of falcon before shooting into the sky. Magnus watched him become a speck in the air.

"Welp. Better get going," he muttered.

Thankfully, they reached the town before night fell.

As Magnus collapsed onto a bench, Alex swooped down and changed back into his normal form. A few passing mortals gave them confused glances, but none of them said anything.

"So...what do we do now?" Magnus panted. Alex shrugged.

"Same as yesterday. We-"

Before he could finish, two teenage girls strolled up to them.

"Hello!" one smiled, flashing her extremely white teeth at them.

"Welcome! You're new around here!" The other one followed. "I'm Kelli. So very glad to meet you!"

"Thanks?" Magnus replied uncertainly. It wasn't very often pretty girls introduced themselves to him. Being dirty and homeless had had that effect. 

"Glad to meet you too." Alex mumbled.

"You two look lost, oh, poor dear things. I'm Tammi." Tammi said. "Why don't you come to our house to spend the night?"

"Well..." A part of him screamed yes, but it couldn't hurt to be cautious. "We're fine, no need to go through the trouble."

"Yes, we'll go..." Alex grinned. It was disconcerting. Magnus frowned and shook him.

"Alex?" This wasn't like him. Alex would definitely be suspicious. Right?

"Amazing!" Kelli smiled brightly. "Just follow us, and we'll show you to our house!"

Something told Magnus this was a really bad idea, but Alex straightened himself and started following them. Magnus walk next to him and whispered in his ear.

"Um, Alex? Are you sure this is, you know, safe?"

Alex blinked.

"Why wouldn't it be?" he replied, though now he sounded a little uncertain. "They're very nice."

"Yeah, well, who just invites strangers to spend the night at their home?" Magnus argued. The more he thought about it, the more he thought they maybe should call this off and just find a nice bridge to bunk under or something.

"I'm sure they're just doing it to be nice," Alex responded, his voice growing firm as Kelli shot a glance at their direction.

"Aaaand here we are!" Kelli and Tammi stopped at the end of an alley after a while, with only one way out. And with a few quick skips both of them had block that way.

"It's very pretty." Alex said.

"Alex, this is not a house. And as nice as alleys are they're not pretty," Magnus said. There was definitely something wrong with Alex.

He rounded on the two smiling girls.

"What have you done to him!?" Magnus growled.

"Oh dear, he's just admiring our home. Shouldn't you be doing the same to be grateful?" Kelli batted her eyelashes, but Magnus wasn't fazed. Whatever control they ever had over him, it was gone now. Kelli frowned when her words seemed to have no effect.

"Stop it," Magnus snapped.  _Jack._

Jack became a sword again, springing out with a few experimental swoops.

"What is it this time? Gorgons? Kampe? Minot-" He broke off when he saw the two creatures, whatever they were.

"These are no fun. Always 'honey' this and 'dear' that with the dudes," he complained.

Kelli and Tammi jumped when they heard Jack talk.

"Interesting," Kelli murmured once she got her bearings. "But not enough."

"Jack. Kill them," Magnus ordered. 

"Wow. You're scary today."

Jack easily cut of Tammi's head with one swipe and turned her into a pile of dust. Kelli, however, dodged the net swing and kicked up her leg to sent Jack flying. A strange ringing sound occured when they made contact.

"Not cool!" Jack complained. "My blade's vibrating now!"

"Jack! Make those jokes later!"

"I wasn't joking!" But he jabbed at Kelli again, managing to get a few inches into her chest. Kelli's eyes went wide-then she disappeared in a burst of flames.

"Yeah! I totally rock those Greek weaklings!" Jack crowed. Magnus shook his head, chastised himself for just staring the entire time, and leaned towards Alex.

"Alex?" Magnus asked, shaking his shoulders.

"Wh-Wait. Those teenagers." Alex blinked.

"You were really trusting of them," Magnus replied. "I was worried you were-I don't know..." Truth be told, and part of him had been jealous. Why couldn't Alex look at him like that?

"They were using some sort of charm magic, I think. I-I shouldn't have let my guard down."

Alex took a deep breath. 

"It won't happen again. They caught me off guard. It won't happen again!" Alex stared into Magnus's eyes with his hands on his shoulders, as though he could burn the message into his brain like that.

Magnus nodded. Alex took his hands off his shoulder and relaxed a bit.

"It's fine," Magnus assured him, even though he himself wasn't sure of that. "Jack took care of them-right?"

"H-what?" Jack flew over to them. "The one I decapitated, yeah. The one that set herself on fire? No, she's still alive. But I doubt she'll be coming near us soon."

It should have been reassuring, but Magnus could only feel disappointment. He  _wanted_ her dead.

It was scary. Sons of Frey shouldn't be like this. They weren't fighters or...murderers.

"Pity," Alex commented, seeming to share his view. He'd calmed himself down and put on the demeanor Magnus was so familiar with. "I'd like to strangle them myself."

A wave of relief suddenly washed over Magnus. He couldn't help smiling a bit.

"Soooo...you interrupted my talk with a really hot axe," Jack swooped in front of him. "So I'll just resume that conversation again and hope you didn't ruin everything."

He turned back into a pendant, but Magnus wasn't anywhere as fatigued this time. He figured he could still walk.

"Let's just find some sort of shelter," he decided.

"There was a hotel on the way here. I saw it, but I didn't think to..." Alex grimaced and looked down. "Sorry about that."

Magnus put his hand on ALex's shoulder reassuringly.

"Well then," he replied. "Lead the way."

**Author's Note:**

> It's in third person because I feel like it. Feels weird. I don't know, I just don't like writing in first person, and since Magnus and Alex share the protagonist spot I figured it wouldn't matter as much.
> 
> Ravenzon Prime. I made that up, but hey, it's possible. Godtube exists (see Trials of Apollo) so why not that? I wouldn't put it past Odin.


End file.
